1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a magnetic head loading mechanism of rotary type for loading/unloading a magnetic head with respect to a magnetic disc, and in particular is suitable for use in a testing equipment, and relates to a loading method for loading the magnetic head onto a surface of the magnetic disc with using an arrangement such as the rotary type magnetic head loading mechanism.
2. Description of Related Art
A hard disc drive for constituting a so-called disc drive apparatus, after being produced, is inspected or checked with a testing equipment one by one for defects on the magnetic medium thereof. In the inspection or checking with the testing equipment, a magnetic head is loaded onto a surface of the magnetic disc to be checked with a so-called loading mechanism so as to try write-in and read-out of test data into it and from it. Among various disc drive apparatuses, there are mainly two prevailing types for a loading mechanism thereof, i.e. a linear type loading mechanism and a in-line type loading mechanism. In recent years, most of the disc drive apparatuses apply the in-line type loading mechanism, and therefore, as the loading mechanism for the testing equipment thereof also mainly uses the in-line type loading mechanism in the same manner.
FIG. 4 shows an example of the loading mechanism of such the in-line type in accordance with the prior art mentioned in the above.
The magnetic heads 2(A) and 2(B) for both surfaces (a front surface and for a reverse surface) of the magnetic disc 1 are fixed at top edges or tips of respective supporting arms 3 and 3. The loading operation is same for the both magnetic heads 2(A) and 2(B), and therefore, it will be explained hereinafter in common for both of them. The supporting arm 3 is fixed onto a fixing member 41 of a rotating mechanism 4, at a rear edge portion thereof, in a detachable manner; Therefore, it rotates in a direction indicated by an arrow R from a position for turning away or escaping as shown by a dotted line, by means of a rotation of an electric motor 42, and thereby the magnetic head 2 moves onto and off of the surface of the magnetic disc 2. On the fixing member 41, there is provided a loading arm 5, a pin 51 of which pushes the supporting arm 3 at the bottom surface thereof upwards with pressure, however, the magnetic head 2 falls down to be loaded onto a first track T.sub.R1 of the magnetic disc 1 when the pin 51 goes down, thereby starting the inspection or checking thereof. After finishing the checking, the magnetic head 2 shifts to a next track T.sub.R2 to inspect it again, and this is repeated until when it reaches to the final track T.sub.Rn of the magnetic disc 1. After completion of the inspection, the pin 51 goes up for the purpose of unloading of the magnetic head 2 therefrom.
In the disc drive apparatuses of the recent years, both the magnetic disc and the magnetic head 2 are miniaturized in sizes thereof, in particular, distances between plural pieces of the discs come to be very narrow with respect to one another, and therefore it is impossible to provide the pin 51 of the above-mentioned loading arm 5 in a space defined between the supporting arm 3 and the surface of the magnetic disc 1. On the contrary, for dissolving such the drawback as mentioned in the above, a loading mechanism of a rotary type has been proposed, such being applicable to both the disc drive apparatus and the testing equipment, and it has been already known by Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. Hei 4-295678 (1992) having a title of "Head Loading Mechanism". The head loading mechanism disclosed therein will be explained hereinafter by referring to an attached FIG. 5.
In this FIG. 5, the loading mechanism 6 is provided with a rotating plate 61 which rotates with respect to the fixing element 41 of the rotating mechanism 4 shown in FIG. 4 mentioned above, and a rotating shaft 62 thereof is connected with the fixing element 41 through a connecting arm 63. Further, a driving arm 64, corresponding to the loading arm 5 mentioned in the above, is provided between the fixing element 41 and the rotating plate 61. When the top edge or the tip of the driving arm 64 goes up, the rotating plate 61 rotates around a center of the rotating shaft 62 so as to descent the supporting arm 3 downwards, thereby loading the magnetic head 2 on the magnetic disc.